And those who strive hard for Us, We will most certainly guide them in Our ways; and Allah is most surely with the doers of good. 29:69 The Quran

The So-Called Islamic Extremism

Syed Javed Hussain

Since 11 September 2001 interest in Islam among the peoples of the world, for varied reasons, has increased manifold and batteries of writers havealso emerged who have been writing on Islam. Especially, a naive majorityin the West is taking exception to Islam and without having properknowledge and access to its source material it is giving vent to its venomand rancour against the extremist elements in Muslim cadre but mostlysubstituting Islam itself for the violent, myopic, bigoted and prejudicedacute minority within Muslim community.

In this regard the Christian West also needs to shun its extremist tendencies and setting things in proper perspective, develop a sort of understanding with another great civilization which, without doubt, has contributed invaluably and constructively to the promotion and richness of mankind. How pitiable it is that this great religion now is explaining to the world on the top of its voices that it is not destructive in content, character and nature, it rather has brought good tidings, salvation and deliverance to humanity.

Here to counter the criticism of the naive scholars of the West against Islam we need to emphasize upon the fact that aggression is alien to Islam; any act of omission or commission, a philosophy or a cause resulting in death, destruction and loss of property to innocent people is unlawful, unjustified, condemnable as well as punish-able in Islam.

Islam is a religion which values, enhances, respects and promotes human values, human institutions and human conduct. Anything which is disruptive of human society and is unsettling of social fabric, causing death, destruction and loss to innocent lives in the name of Islam, in fact, is not the product of Islamic Extremism; it is the base product of Devilish forces exploiting the vitality of Islam to their narrow ends, because, there is no such thing as Islamic extremism.

Islam has nothing to hide. Its rules and teachings are open and frank, and are addressed to all humanity. It is not the religion of one brand of people belonging to the East or the Middle East. It is universal in appeal and in context; it needs only an unbiased reception to put across its message. It is natural to man and is the final destiny of humankind. Whether humanity is able to recognize this fact or not, this does not discount the services of Islam to humanity.

It is there as a reality and will prevail as the proper time comes and then humanity will be able to reap full benefits from the Islamic ways of life. In the Holy Qur’an God Almighty says, “He it is Who sent His Apostle with guidance and the religion of truth, that He might cause it to prevail over all religions, though the polytheists may be averse. “ 9:33

But how will it prevail? Through violence, aggression, intimidation, coercion and bloodshed? Certainly not! Of course not! Islam is destined to prevail through love; through its intrinsic spirit of accommoda-tion; through the logic of its principles; through its universal appeal; through its concern for humanity; through the compassion it expresses for the downtrodden and the wronged people of the world; through its universal application of laws sans any consideration of caste, colour or creed; through its upholding the principles of decency, morality, uprightness, justice, fair-play, honesty and dignity. Islam does exhort its adherents to preach. But how? The Holy Qur’an says: "Call to the way of you Lord with wisdom and goodly exhorta-tion, and have disputations with them in the best manner...." 16:125

Those who indulge in violence in the name of Islam do not do any service to Islam; rather they act as enemies of Islam and by doing so earn the wrath of Almighty God upon them. Islam who values Human Life so much as to declare “.. whoever slays a soul, unless it be for man slaughter or for mischief in the land, it is as though he slew all men; and whoever keeps it alive, it is as though he kept alive all men..." 5:32

Islam is different from Christianity in its all encompassing appeal to humanity laying stress on both the corporal as well as spiritual aspects of human life.

Islam takes in economic, social, ethnic, cultural, political as well as domestic, personal and individual moorings of human conduct. It takes in all shades of human life; private dealings, national, international banking, corporate engagements, multi-national transactions, interna-tional dealings as well as national affairs all sustain guidance and inspiration from Islamic teachings.

How far have Muslims been able to benefit from Islamic teachings remains, in its entirety, an unanswered question; however, in pursuit of these ideals, Islam preaches caution, discretion and prudence. Unobtrusive and modest nature of Islam is well exposed and made clear in its declaration that “There is no compulsion in Religion. “ 2:256 Hence the attempt on the part of certain myopic elements in the West to reduceIslam to stereotype such as the hostile religious fanatics battling unbelievers, cannot hold waters in face of Islamic reality and facts.

The most favourite ploy of these heretics is to quote The Holy Qur’an to prove their point of view against Islam to paint it as a hostile, aggressive, intolerant and violent movement so that the unwary masses fall into their lines and keep themselves away from Islamic wisdom.

The masses should know that there are Conditional and Unconditional verses in the Holy Qur’an and the Quranic scholars while deriving a law from the Holy Qur’an must consider them thoroughly. If the same thing is ordered in two verses of the Holy Qur’an then the verse containing the condition will supersede the verse giving the order unconditionally, and the condition will apply to the command.

Likewise there are general verses in the Holy Qur’an calling upon Muslims to wage Jehad against non-Muslims such as: “And fight those who have not faith in God nor in the Hereafter and (who) forbid not what God and His Prophet gave forbidden, and who are not committed to the religion of truth." (9:29) and “0 Prophet, Fight the kufar (disbelievers) and hypocrites and be stern against them." (9:73) etc; however, there are conditional verses which overrule the order of Jehad in general sense in these verses unless the conditions, mentioned in the conditional verses of Jehad, are met. For example in Sura Bogard The Holy Qur’an Says: “And fight in the path of Allah with those who are fighting with you and do not transgress, Allah loves not those who transgress.” (2:190)

In another verse of Surah at-Tawba, we are told: “Fight with all the polytheists just as they fight with all of you.” (9:36).These verses show us that, if the instructions of Islam about Jehad at some places are unconditional, at other places they are conditional, and in the terms of the scholars, the unconditional must be interpreted as the conditional. According to these verses we cannot fight with unbelievers unless they start a fight with us and then further it is binding upon us not to transgress in our fight. What does this mean? It means we must follow the ethics of a fight as have been taught by Islam. We must stop fighting when the aggressor stops fighting us.

We must respect the civilian people who are not fighting with us including women and children. We must not unnecessarily destroy the property, crop bearing fields and fruit bearing trees of our enemy etc. Such instructions are found in various authentic Ahadiths of Holy Prophet PBUH which go parallel to the verses of the Holy Qur’an to expound and make the law clear to us. If we do not do that then we can be anything but true and believing Muslims.

Let us take up another redeeming aspect of Islam. So many verses in the Holy Qur’an prohibit the followers of Islam to force their ideology upon others because to believe in something one needs of have certain initiations, in the absence of which, a belief cannot be established.

Even though if somebody himself wishes it to be so or he may externally be forced to believe in something, he cannot start believing. As earlier this has been mentioned, the Holy Qur’an says, “There is no compulsion in Religion. 2:256 Because to believe in something one needs to do a lot of thinking so that one can have a peace of mind and heart, the Holy Qur’an orders the Holy Prophet (PBUH), “Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and goodly exhortation, and have disputations with them in the best manner “ 16:125.

Introduction

Islam is a religion which values, enhances, respectsand promotes human values, human institutionsand human conduct. Anything which is disruptiveof human society and is unsettling of social fabric,causing death, destruction and loss to innocent livesin the name of Islam, in fact, is not the product ofIslamic Extremism; it is the base product ofDevilish forces exploiting the vitality of Islam totheir narrow ends, because, there is no such thing as Islamic extremism.

First appeared in Pakistan Observer on November 23, 2004﻿﻿

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